JYP Entertainment and Republic Records K-Pop girl group TWICE released their latest EP, “Ready To Be” on March 9. It was released alongside their latest single, “Set Me Free.”
The song is about a girl who finds a new partner who frees her. Lines such as “I don’t wanna hide my feelings anymore,” indicate that the singer may have repressed her feelings in the past, which relates to the song’s title because repression can lead to a desire for rebellion and freedom — to be set free — later on. “Now, I’m ready to be,” indicates that she is prepared to experience a new life and the freedoms that come with it.
As people with restrictive lives have to repress their emotions, it makes sense that they want to experience a life of freedom where they do not need to hide their feelings. The line “I don’t care if I lose everything, or if these emotions are momentary,” indicates that the singer is desperate for an escape — she does not care how long the escape will be. Considering how she has repressed her emotions, it makes sense as to why she wants to escape. Escaping would help her release or redirect her problems making her less stressed.
This also implies that the singer has had few chances to escape in the past. She is now desperate for any form of escape. “There’s no more to lose, and nothing to hide,” indicates that the singer has hit rock bottom and is ready to reveal herself when starting her new life. This aspect of the song makes sense because it is important to expose one’s full life to someone before engaging in a relationship.
The rap part helps to indicate why the singer finds her new partner appealing “You might make a couple mistakes, but I know we’ll always make up and you’ll make me feel special,” indicating that she will forgive him no matter what. Considering the singer’s earlier desperation for escape, it is nice to know that she is willing to accept mistakes and love her partner.
A music video was also released to accompany the song. It starts with a theater that explodes, followed by the members standing in a line on a planet and running off. It then transitions to a series of random scenes, including Jihyo riding a car and Jeongyeon editing a film, while intercutting in group dance sequences on environments such as a planet and a ruined city.
The random events nature of the video prevents it from revealing a true plot, but it does have several moments that evoke the lyrics. For instance, at one point in the video, Tzuyu is tied up in a series of red wires, representing the trapped nature of the song’s protagonist. Her wires suddenly burned up in flames, revealing a new outfit, representing the renewal that comes with freedom. The video ends with the members dancing in front of the theater, which has seemingly been rebuilt after the explosion at the start.
An English version was also released alongside the Korean version. This type of release, a single issued in two languages at once, was a practice that was also used for their previous singles “I Can’t Stop Me” and “More And More.” The translation is fairly straight, with only minor variations between the two versions, such as the line “Before my eyes, a perfect fantasy” in the Korean version being translated as “Cause you got me dreaming even in the morning light” in the English version. However, since JYP used the English version’s lyrics as the Korean version’s subtitles, it might cause confusion if one were to only watch the official Korean version. This is especially obvious when the members use an English phrase in the Korean version that does not appear in the English version, such as “All my life” or “Fade out.”
In regards to the promotion, the song received several supplemental videos. For instance, the group revealed a dance challenge on YouTube Shorts, where they danced to the song alongside guest stars such as Tomorrow X Together’s (TXT) Yoenjun and Exo’s Kai.
Another video that was released in conjunction with the song was a “Frame Dance,” in which the members danced to the song while standing in a small frame marked on the floor. The video was funny to watch, as not only did the area get crowded very quickly, and the members struggled to move while in the space. The song itself was altered in several ways, such as being sped up and slowed down, as well as jumping to different parts of it. Another way in which the group promoted the song was when they sang its Korean version on The Tonight Show..
TWICE’s “Set Me Free” is a great song about finding hope and freedom from tough circumstances.
Bailey Kanthatham is an Entertainment Contributing Writer. He can be reached at bkanthat@uci.edu.